Winter Sun

This blog has gotten off to a pretty slow start for several reasons. One of which is a friend's camera was in the shop and she was desperate to borrow one for her little girl's first birthday so I leant her mine. The other reason is that as the holly day season approaches, I'm extremely short on spare time just now. Thanks for your patience if you have been checking back for updates!

I wrote about whiteouts this morning in my writing blog, the b in subtle. Then I drove to visit my parents this afternoon through some actual whiteouts. It would have been a bit of a harrowing drive, but for the fact that I've been driving this road for close to a decade now and I know it like the back of my hand. I also know how to drive in winter weather. It would appear a lot of other people do not. Not sure what you do about that. Often I think the only thing that keeps me from driving in bad weather is not the bad weather itself, but other drivers who think they are invincible somehow. Bad driving and bad weather is truly a scary mix.

I don't mind driving in winter weather. I don't get panicky. Actually, I kinda love it. The way the snow snakes across the dark part of the road. Sometimes the snow, the way it moves, appears to be figures of ghosts drifting by you, sauntering across the fields. I love winter storms. Sure, I'd rather be watching them curled up in front of my woodstove sipping a mug of ovaltine. But I don't mind driving in them. Thankfully, I have an all-wheel drive that manoevers pretty well.

I shot this creeping slowly towards town. The winter sun was trying to break through the clouds and this tree stood out so vividly against the whiteouts. I love the waterdrops on the windshield as well - they provide a fourth wall and hint at safety/warmth, a nice contrast, I think. This is my final winter driving along this road. It will be nice to remember it through photographs. I will miss it!

Sunbeam

This was a busy week, but I did manage to capture this shot of the sun lighting up a copse of trees in the distance. Stormy days are a favourite of mine for shooting photos and, surprisingly for November, we've actually had a lot of sunshine lately. But yesterday storm clouds moved in. The sun took a peek out of the clouds for just one moment - long enough for me to snap this. It's a very simple, quiet photo with quite a 'Novemberish' quality: the brooding sky with a hint of possible snow; the absence of green in the trees; the earth laying fallow for its impending blanket of winter. The way the rays specifically shone on this spot reminds me of that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, when Indy uses the staff of Ra to determine the location of the Well of Souls, where the Ark of the Covenant is purported to lie. The sun hits the room and the headpiece of the staff at one point during the day and it illuminates where he and Sallah should be digging. I love to witness how the sun, on days when clouds try to block it, pierces through a stormy sky and shoots a beam so specifically on the surrounding landscape. I'm more spiritual than religious, but it sometimes feels like some kind of golden finger pointing down, touching the trees. A kind of farewell kiss before the frost takes over and a cold, winter wind whips over the field. The sun's promise that he will warm those branches again come Spring. An unexpected blessing from above. Kind of like my own Sonbeam.